In 1939 Patrick Barrett discovered eleven silver arm-rings and fragments of fourteen others, buried together on his land at Cushalogurt, on the shore of Clew Bay.
These distinctive arm-rings were made in Dublin (and perhaps elsewhere in Ireland) by descendants of Viking settlers in the period c.880-950 AD. Primarily, they were a means of storing and circulating silver at a time before coins were used. When silver was needed for trading, it could be cut or hacked off the arm-ring, giving rise to the term ‘Hack Silver’. However, the simple, stamped decoration suggests these arm-rings also served as a form of jewellery – at least until the silver was needed for business purposes!
This is the largest hoard of such arm-rings ever found and it seems clear that they were deliberately buried, probably for temporary safe-keeping, sometime in the 10th century.
We know these arm-rings were used by Irish people, as many have been found in areas never occupied by Vikings, but in this case the seaside location may suggest that they belonged to a Viking sailing along the Mayo coast.
